ABC Election Coverage: 2006 South Australian Election

Stuart (Key Seat)

Port Augusta and North-East Outback

Marginal Liberal 2.1%

MP

Graham Gunn (LIB), who has been in Parliament since 1970, his seat known as Eyre until 1997 when it was re-named Stuart. He is currently the longest serving MP anywhere in Australia.

Profile

The state's second largest electorate, Stuart covers the north-east outback east of Lake Torrens and the Oodnadatta Track. Its main population centre is the industrial city of Port Augusta, the electorate also stretching further south into the state's northern agricultural districts, including Orroroo, Peterborough, Jamestown, Burra and Morgan on the Murray River. In the far north, the electorate also includes Leigh Creek and Oodnadatta, with voting in remote districts carried out by mobile polling booths. Other features of the electorate include Flinders Range National Park and Wilpena Pound.

Redistribution

Loses the Flinders Range council area north of Port Pirie to Giles, while in the south it gains areas round Kapunda, Truro and Blanchetown from Schubert. It is estimated these changes have increased the Liberal majority by around 1%.

History/Trivia

A solid Labor electorate from 1938 until it was abolished in 1993. In the days of the rural malapportionment, Stuart covered just the city of Port Augusta, but once one-vote one-value electoral boundaries were introduced in the 1970s, it expanded to include both Port Augusta and Port Pirie. The 1991 changes that forced the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission to look at the political implications of boundaries saw the two cities divided, and Stuart was abolished. The name was revived in 1997 to again adorn the electorate including Port Augusta, though now with a vast rural and outback hinterland attached. The electorate is named after explorer John McDoull Stuart, the first man to cross Australia from north to south and survive. (Burke and Wills traversed the continent first, but died on the return leg.)

2-Party Booth Result

The Liberal Party recorded majorities in 21 of the 31 booths used in 2002, its vote ranging from 29.1% of the votes collected by the Far North Mobile team, to 86.2% at Booleroo Centre. Labor's best results were recorded in the large booths around Port Augusta, meaning this is an electorate where the Liberal vote tends to start high as the rural booths are counted, declining later as the larger population centres start to report. One Nation recorded 24.4% of the vote at Point Pass in 2002, its highest vote in the state.

Main Candidates

63 year-old Gunn was first elected as MP for Eyre in 1970, after various redistributions ending up as the member for Stuart since 1997. A former grazier and wool-classer, he served as Speaker of the House of Assembly between 1993 and 1997. He was almost defeated in 2002 by 33 year-old Justin Jarvis, who was born at Quorn, a town previously in Stuart but moved into Giles for the 2006 election. Jarvis has worked for various minister and senators and is a former organiser with the Shop Assistants Union.

Issues and Polls

An Advertiser poll on 22 February suggests Labor is on the verge of winning this seat. The poll had Labor leading on the primary vote 43% to 39%, Labor winning with 52% after preferences. An undecided figure was not reported, but from other reported figures appears to be around 10%. Family First are directing preferences to the Liberal Party, but it is unclear how well the party can campaign in this far flung district.

Assessment

Even if there is a general swing to Labor, recent South Australian elections have shown that non-metropolitan seats swing less than Adelaide seats. It may be that the increased popularity of Labor since Mike Rann became Premier will finally defeat Graham Gunn, but after 36 years as MP, he has a considerable personal following to call upon.